Hi and welcome to the 56th edition of Werewolf, in which our cover story this month analyses the remarkable change of global public opinion towards the Papacy that Pope Francis has wrought – especially so, given the depths of unpopularity to which the Vatican had sunk during the reign of his predecessor Benedict XVI, who seemed unable (or unwilling) to respond adequately to the fallout from the Church’s child sex abuse scandals. Pope Francis’ marketing coup seems all the more extraordinary given that – as Werewolf story points out in detail – this transformation of the Church’s image has been accomplished without any discernible change in its core doctrines. Our story does not regard this as merely a cynical marketing exercise. It also traces the links between the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires and the liberal tradition of liberation theology that flourished in South America during the 1970s and 1980s…

Elsewhere in this issue, Werewolf interviews James Shaw, the Green Party’s new co-leader about his rationale for last year’s election loss - and his future plans for collaboration in government with Labour, and for the prospects of useful policy engagement with the current government. As the US begins to gear up for the 2016 election year and the first round of party primaries, Richard McLachlan reports on the reasons why outsider Bernie Sanders is winning such strong support among Democratic Party activists and working class Americans, even though Hillary Clinton remains the front-runner for the Dems’ presidential nomination. On a lighter note, Richard also writes about attending a taping of America’s Got Talent – an experience which for him, triggered comparisons and contrasts with the music and dance Competitions once so popular in New Zealand.

While Edward Snowden’s revelations have turned the spotlight on mass surveillance and illicit surveillance, precious little attention has been given to how our legal system can/should handle the security evidence gathered by these means. On this issue, Werewolf interviewed Professor Geoff McLay of the NZ Law Commission, who is currently chairing the Commission’s current review of NZ’s legal procedures for handling secret data, a process that’s being timed to coincide with the upcoming Cullen/Reddy review of the security agencies themselves. Will the alleged needs of national security be able to co-exist with the hallowed rights to open justice - and the related right for people to access and challenge all the evidence for the allegations the state is making against them. As Werewolf reveals, it’s a balancing act that threatens to pit national security against some of our most ancient freedoms.

Hollywood will trample all over any film classic if there’s money to be made with a reboot. The shit they pull, huh? Already, the trailer for the remake/reboot of the early 1990s cult movie Point Break has united the Internet in an outpouring of unanimous loathing for the very idea of tampering with the original’s blend of bromance, surf mysticism, bank robbery, sky-diving, and action movie dynamics - all of it stirred to perfection by the beautiful wooden spoon that was Keanu Reeves. In his film column this month, Philip Matthews goes back to experience Kathryn Bigelow’s 1993 movie afresh. Among other things, Philip finds telling similarities between where Keanu’s Johnny Utah character ends up at the Point Break finale, and where Jessica Chastain’s character found herself, post Obama, at the close of Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. It isn’t over until its over – but then waddya do? Chances are, people will not be asking any existential questions about the reboot, come the year 2037. Elsewhere in our film coverage this issue, we use the release of Ant Man to celebrate the everyman genius of Paul Rudd.

Thanks to Lyndon Hood for helping me post this issue online. If anyone out there ever wants to be involved and talk over some story ideas, contact me at gordon@werewolf.co.nz

Cheers,
Gordon Campbell
Editor, Werewolf

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